My Queen, My Rules - Extra Chapter 4

Extra Chapter - The Daily Life of Raising a Baby (1)

When Ji Mingchu was approaching the late stage of her second trimester, Jiang Chun and Tang Zhizhou got married.

They held two wedding ceremonies: one on the shores of the Aegean Sea, where they chartered a plane and invited only their closest family and friends, and another at the Junyi Huazhang in the Imperial Capital, which was luxurious, grand, and packed with distinguished guests.

The Tang family had spent a full year preparing for these two weddings. For the main wedding gown alone, they had four custom-made pieces for Jiang Chun; the love and importance they placed on this daughter-in-law were truly evident for all to see.

A month after the wedding banquet, people in their circle would still occasionally try to stir up some sour grapes, claiming that Jiang Chun was just lucky—that a "nouveau riche" girl, someone even Yan Yu didn't want, had actually married into the Tang family.

Ji Mingchu asked, "Did you guys sign that?"

Jiang Chun tilted her head and asked, "Which one?"

"The prenuptial agreement," Gu Kaiyang answered casually while flipping through Ji Mingchu's parenting magazine with her legs crossed.

Jiang Chun shook her head. "Nope, we don't really have anything to settle."

She finished one pudding and picked up another piece of light cheese cake from the table.

Ji Mingchu thought about it and supposed that made sense. Seeing Jiang Chun devour another slice of cake in under a minute, she rolled up the magazine in her hand and tapped Jiang Chun on the head with a look of utter helplessness. "Can you not eat anymore?"

"I starved myself for three whole months just to fit into that wedding dress! What's wrong with eating a little cake?"

Jiang Chun glanced at her sideways, puzzled, her face clearly saying, "My husband doesn't even care, what are you worrying so much for?"

Ji Mingchu retorted righteously, "Do you call this a 'little'? Is that how you use the word? You've eaten four pieces of cake in less than half an hour; why don't you go start a food-tasting livestream?"

Jiang Chun was left speechless by the rebuttal.

Gu Kaiyang raised her eyes, let out a light scoff, and said to Jiang Chun, "Don't pay her any mind. She's just grumpy herself right now and insists on dragging the two of us down with her."

Ji Mingchu’s death stare swiveled toward Gu Kaiyang. "I didn't see you being this sharp-tongued during the mixers."

Ever since Jiang Chun joined the ranks of the married, the two had been particularly enthusiastic about finding a partner for Gu Kaiyang. They had even pushed her to attend several mixers. Unfortunately, ever since the dating variety show, Gu Kaiyang seemed to have lost interest in romance, focusing entirely on her career. Every time she went to a mixer, she barely said a word.

The dating show she participated in had gained her a massive fan base of young girls. Her Weibo follower count had already surpassed Ji Mingchu’s, racing toward five million. Furthermore, since she was an editor by trade, she had her own knack for Weibo operations. She had established a persona of a trendy, independent, and financially free woman of the new era, and her income had soared rapidly after aligning with the self-media industry.

At this moment, she shrugged, not wanting to argue with a pregnant woman, and just exchanged a knowing look with Jiang Chun.


Actually, Gu Kaiyang hit the nail on the head; Ji Mingchu had been very unhappy lately.

After attending Jiang Chun’s wedding, Cen Sen had forcibly suspended all of Ji Mingchu’s work and social activities.

If she wanted to go out, the bodyguards wouldn't allow it, and the driver wouldn't take her; she had to wait for Cen Sen to be free to accompany her personally. Most of the time, she was stuck in their unremarkable luxury mansion, wasting her life away.

Jiang Chun might have been holding a grudge against her, because to congratulate her on the pregnancy, she joyfully sent her a small robot designed by Tang Zhizhou.

The little robot was cute, even adorable, but it was a walking, talking "Tang Monk." Every day, it hovered behind her, buzzing incessantly, reminding her to drink water, reminding her to stand up and walk a bit, reminding her to go outside to see flowers and grass and breathe fresh air...

The most terrifying part was its high-definition surveillance function. Under the guise of staying in touch with her at all times, Cen Sen was justifiably monitoring her using the gift her best friend had sent.

If she spent too much time on her phone or watching TV and happened to be caught by Cen Sen, a cold, automated reminder in Cen Sen's voice would pipe out from the robot: "Mingchu, get up and move around a bit."

At first, she would put on a defiant attitude, thinking, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening to the monk's droning," but Cen Sen didn't say much—he just blocked her signal the next day, turning her into a beautiful but lonely pregnant woman on the island in the middle of the lake.

Later, she even had thoughts of throwing the thing into Mingshui Lake to destroy the evidence, but when she thought about how she could use it to counter-drone on Cen Sen when she was bored out of her mind, she suppressed the urge.

"Cen-Cen, are you there? When are you coming back today?"

Feeling bored after finishing a variety show, Ji Mingchu glanced at the little robot.

The little robot soon transmitted a voice. "A bit late today; I still have a video conference."

Ji Mingchu: "You’re too much! You won't keep me company, and you won't let me leave the house!"

Cen Sen: "I'll come home to be with you once I finish these next few days. Be a good girl."

Ji Mingchu retreated to her second-best option, pouting coquettishly: "Then I want to eat the small pork ribs you make tonight."

Cen Sen paused for a moment. "Alright, I'll make them for you when I get back. Have something to eat first."

"Okay, give me a kiss then."

Cen Sen ignored Zhou Jiaheng’s knock at the door, his voice lowering slightly. "Mm, kiss."

Cen Sen kept his word. One month before Ji Mingchu’s due date, he moved his office to their home to spend more time with her. All business trips were delegated to other senior executives; aside from necessary meetings and entertainment, he rarely appeared in public for work.

Under Cen Sen’s strict care, Ji Mingchu gave birth safely three days before her due date.

Whether it was to prevent a repeat of the mistakes from over twenty years ago, the hospital had cleared the area early. On the day of the birth, over a dozen people from the Cen and Ji families were there, anxiously awaiting the birth of the little treasure.

Fortunately, the delivery process went relatively smoothly.

A baby boy, weighing six pounds and six ounces.

Although they hadn't tested for the gender in advance, and the Cen family hadn't expressed any requirements or expectations regarding gender, the underlying thoughts of a large family regarding an heir didn't need to be stated plainly. Upon hearing it was a boy, both families secretly let out a sigh of relief.

Actually, Ji Mingchu and Cen Sen had discussed the gender issue before this. Ji Mingchu originally thought Cen Sen would say, "I'll love whatever you give birth to," but after some thought, Cen Sen had said: "I’d prefer a boy. If the firstborn is a boy, he can protect his little sister in the future."

"…?"

Even though what he said seemed to make sense—she had quite enjoyed being protected by her own cousins when she was little—but...

"Who said anything about having a second child? The first one hasn't even landed yet, are you thinking too far ahead?"

Cen Sen had replied quite calmly at the time: "Life is like a game of chess; when you make one move, you naturally have to look ten steps ahead."

He even took out that small notebook where he had written his dating plans to show Ji Mingchu. "This is a plan I wrote during my free time. It's not very complete, but I'll make a full plan document when I have time later."

Ji Mingchu suspiciously took it and glanced at it; the plan continued Cen Sen’s usual rigorous style. It was categorized one by one, perfected to the point that if transcribed into a computer, it would be a beautiful planning table.

She suddenly didn't know whether she should feel happy or mournful for the baby. Their father had casually written out their life plan from age three to eighteen—a full twenty pages—including several branches derived from different interests, even clearly stipulating that they weren't allowed to date until after eighteen.

Of course, as a rigorous old father, Cen Sen naturally felt duty-bound to take on the task of naming the child.

According to the Cen family genealogy, boys of this generation were given a single name using the radical for "stone," while girls used the radical for "jade." He had already picked out names for the baby: "Zhuo" (polish/jade) for a girl, and "Yan" (inkstone) for a boy. A gentleman is as upright and steady as jade or an inkstone.

As Cen Sen wished, the first to be born was Baby Cen Yan.

After the baby was born, everyone spontaneously started calling him "Yan-Bao." Only Ji Mingchu, seeing him all wrinkled, a bit yellowish, and looking not very clean, insisted on calling him "Little Sloppy."

Cen Sen corrected her several times, but Ji Mingchu wouldn't change it, and she would ask him daily:

"Has Little Sloppy slept yet?"

"Has Little Sloppy been swimming?"

"Has Little Sloppy had his milk?"

"Is Little Sloppy crying?"

Perhaps to show his dissatisfaction with his mother’s nickname, the "Little Sloppy" Yan-Bao grew whiter and cleaner by the day. His brows and eyes had a bit of Cen Sen’s coldness, but when he smiled, he looked adorable, cut from the same mold as Ji Mingchu, his eyes clear and bright like two crystal grapes.

Plus, the nanny at home changed his clothes countless times a day, keeping him tidy and as good as new, making him less and less related to the word "sloppy."

But his mother had gotten so used to calling him that, she couldn't change it. Ji Mingchu’s uncle and great-uncle had heard her and scolded her twice, but even then, it hadn't changed.

Actually, during the first year of Little Sloppy Yan-Bao’s life, Ji Mingchu and Cen Sen’s lives didn't undergo any earth-shattering changes. The two of them didn't even have much self-awareness about being parents, and the child was mostly taken care of by the nannies.

After Ji Mingchu finished her postpartum confinement, she slowly started preparing for her design studio. Although she would set aside a few hours every day to spend with Yan-Bao, most of the time she just had the nanny bring him over to play for a bit.

She would also take all sorts of funny photos—sticking her feet under Yan-Bao’s nose, putting a chicken leg by his mouth, or placing Yan-Bao on the display rack in her walk-in closet—adding captions like "Mommy's feet are just so fragrant," "Want to eat? You have no teeth," or "Clearance sale, one dollar each," before sending them to her sister group chat, brazenly brainwashing Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun, those two childless people: if a baby isn't born to be played with, then there’s no meaning to it at all.

Relatively speaking, although Cen Sen didn't have much time to accompany Yan-Bao, he seemed a bit more dutiful when he actually did.

He would feed Yan-Bao milk, feed him mush, take him out for walks, play with his little toys, and so on.

Every time Ji Mingchu watched Cen Sen do these things, she felt a bit of a weird contrast, even finding it funny.

Because when Cen Sen did these things, he was just a strict father with a total CEO mindset, as if he were training his employees on what to do and when.

When Yan-Bao was three months old and couldn't roll over yet, Cen Sen pushed aside a day of official business to stay home and practice with him.

But no matter how patiently he coached, Yan-Bao remained motionless and extremely uncooperative.

Seeing Cen Sen radiating a heavy, low pressure after patiently coaching him for a while, Ji Mingchu couldn't stop laughing. She always felt that in the next second, Cen Sen was going to coldly say to Yan-Bao: "Your performance in the group is equivalent to hitting the bottom in a performance appraisal. You should have been negotiated out by HR long ago. You can’t even roll over; how are you worthy of being my son?"

Perhaps feeling the eager anticipation of his CEO dad, even though he missed the head start in the "three-roll, six-sit, nine-crawl" progression, Yan-Bao played catch-up, achieving a counter-attack in the sitting and crawling milestones, and even started calling his father at ten months old.